Change of Heart
by Aqua4444
Summary: It was not wrong of him to want to protect her the first time he saw her, but it hurt to love her the last time he looked at her and when she was gone, he felt nothing at all. (companion fic "Free Spirit" is up now!)
1. Protect

**Hello! **

**I should probably not be publishing a new story right now, when I have two other Hobbit-stories going on, but inspiration struck me and I just had to write this! Will be a rather short story - about 3 chapters - and it should be finished before _The __Battle of the Five Armies _is released. I'm so excited! It's going to be epic, awesome and other positive adjectives :D **

***the cover picture is taken by a friend of mine and she has also edited it* **

**I do not own any characters or places; J.R.R Tolkien or Peter Jackson and Co do. **

**Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1 <strong>

"We found her in a tree, my King", said the Captain and gently pushed the young elf forwards.

She stopped in front of the throne and while she did not spare him a glance, Legolas was watching her. She was awfully young, not yet grown into the grace the elves were known for. Leaves and twigs were stuck in her red hair, which was unkempt and untamed. Her clothes were so dirty that he could not make out their original color and she had dark smudges of earth in her face, contrasting strongly to her pale skin. She looked like a wild little beast.

His father looked down at the girl from his position high up on the throne. His cold eyes held a gleam of interest in them that surprised Legolas.

"Did you now?" said Thranduil softly, though his voice echoed around the halls of the underground palace. "And pray tell what you were doing up there?"

He addressed the girl who had to strain her neck so she could proper look at him. Her stance was tense, but defiant.

"Looking."

"Looking?" the King repeated and leaned forwards, resting his chin upon his clasped hands. He looked far more comfortable, less intimidating than usual and Legolas noticed that he was not alone of finding it surprising. The guards exchanged quizzical looks as well. "What were you looking for?"

"Something good", she replied with a solemn expression that did not suit her young face.

Legolas wanted to ask what she meant by that, but his father only hummed, a shadow falling over his brows, and thus the subject was dropped. The girl's eyes flickered as Thranduil gazed at her with such calculating intensity that she did not seem to be able to look at him. Her eyes met Legolas's for a brief second and he felt pity for her. She was so small and dirty compared to everyone else, alone. He tried to keep his face expressionless, but some emotion must have been showing for the young girl frowned, a storm brewing in her eyes, before she turned away and inspected the vast hall instead. She seemed mildly impressed by the palace.

The King suddenly stood up and the guards immediately bowed their heads. Legolas drew his dark brows together, a small flare of wonder stirring inside his stomach as his father descended the stairs from his throne, the place where no one could reach him. His long, silver robe trailed behind him and as he stopped in front of the girl, he looked twice as tall and mighty. The girl bit her lip – a sign of nervousness, Legolas wondered – and slowly raised her eyes to meet the King's.

"What is your name?"

"Tauriel", the girl replied and added as an afterthought: "My Lord."

Tauriel.

"Your parents?" Thranduil continued his questioning.

There was a brief moment of silence when Tauriel pondered over the question. It made Legolas pity her even more, as it was surely a sign that she had no mother and father. What kind of people would have let their daughter live on her own should they have been alive? Tauriel answered eventually. Her voice was strong and rang clear in the hall with a similar power to his father's.

"Tauriel."

Legolas didn't understand the odd answer and he frowned. His father must have understood, for the King smiled, something that softened his features immensely.

"Ah, Tauriel", he said with a note of amusement in his voice. "Daughter of the Forest."

Tauriel rewarded him with a crooked smile, an understanding passing between them. Legolas felt strangely left out at their exchange. His father was a difficult person to reach out to, as ill-tempered as he was kind, as fickle as he was unyielding and as wise as he was foolish. Legolas had often trouble with understanding his father, unsure of whether he was making him proud or not. Therefore, he could not help the sting of envy at seeing his father and Tauriel interacting with an ease he wished he could have been a part of.

Thranduil fixed the Captain with his chilly blue eyes and said, now with a colder voice that demanded his request to be obeyed:

"Captain, if you could be so kind to take Tauriel to Lady Merenwen for new clothes and a bath." He looked at Tauriel again and ran a pale, slender finger across her dirty cheek. His lips were pursed. "We cannot have a ward of the Realm looking like a barbaric little beast."

Tauriel eyes flashed at that, but she had not managed to open her mouth before the Captain was there next to her. Legolas wondered what she would have said to his father.

"Yes, my Lord."

"Good." Thranduil turned his back towards them all and waved carelessly with a ring-clad hand. "You are all dismissed."

The guards all bowed perfectly before leaving the hall in a line, walking down the stairs with a surety to their steps. The Captain and Tauriel were the last to leave, but Tauriel did not bow nor did she speak her thanks. She just stared with a rather morose look upon her face. It seemed as if she wanted to be somewhere else and Legolas felt a tug of something on his heart, an unfamiliar feeling.

As soon as they had disappeared and was out of earshot, Legolas turned to his father.

"Why did you do that for?" he wanted to know.

Thranduil raised his eyebrows in what could only be described as mock surprise. Legolas was not amused.

"Did what?"

"Let her stay", Legolas clarified and looked imploringly at his father.

"Would you rather have me had her dragged outside into the forest again?" wondered Thranduil and one eyebrow arched at the question.

"No!" Legolas hurried to say and then said in a more collected tone: "She's young…."

"Exactly", interrupted Thranduil. "She is young and has managed to live on her own, out in the wild. That takes skill, luck and intelligence. Imagine what she could be in some years' time. She would be a great asset to the Realm." He paused and smiled slightly. "Besides, I found myself to be quite fond of her."

The King sounded amazed as if he could not believe it himself. Legolas certainly couldn't. He wanted to ask why. The question was at the tip of his tongue, burning, but he could not find it in himself to ask. The prince pursed his lips together and bowed stiffly towards his father, who merely looked at him with barely any indication of emotions.

"You may go", said Thranduil, but did not wave him away as carelessly as he had done with the guards.

"Father."

Legolas turned to leave and when he glanced over his shoulder before walking down the stairs and disappearing in the corridors, he saw that his father had climbed his throne again and was sitting safe and secure there. It was something lazy about him when he sat there, yet also an edge of something hard as steel. Legolas did not look forward to the day when that throne would be his to occupy.

He hurried after the other two elves. The corridors were deserted, only used by the flickering torches on the walls. They made ghost-like shadows dance across the golden brown walls. It held a rather gloomy atmosphere to it and when he caught up with Tauriel and the Captain, they walked in silence as if affected by the gloom of the castle. Both looked at him when he fell into step with them; the Captain with an expression that could have been carved out of stone while Tauriel's eyes were alight and her cheeks tinged with pink. Legolas tried to appear as if he had not rushed to see them.

"Captain, I'll escort her now", he said and tried to mimic the tone his father usually used. "You can return to your duties."

The Captain gave him a long look, his haunted eyes almost shining gold in the dim light. He looked as if he did not know if he should obey and Legolas straightened up, nearly glaring. The Captain's façade seemed to be on the verge of falling apart; it looked like he was close to smiling. At the end, he only bowed.

"As you say, my Lord."

Legolas nodded graciously and with one last look at the two younger elves, the Captain left them. His steps could barely be heard even in the silence. Legolas looked down at Tauriel and found that she was staring at him. She appeared to be seizing him up, judging him and he did not know whether to feel insulted or amused.

"Come", he said instead and started to walk. "Lady Merenwen's quarters are this way."

He walked at a slow pace so that she would keep up with him. Tauriel's eyes flashed – he noticed that they were very green – and moved faster as if to prove that she could. The smile that formed on her lips was almost smug. He suspected that they had gotten a troublemaker at their hands.

They walked down the winding corridors and then up a couple of narrow stairs that twisted themselves like spirals. They met a couple of members of the court and they greeted Legolas as were fit for a prince, but it was Tauriel that was the subject of their stares. Some watched her with curiosity; some shared questioning glances between each other, wise eyes communicating in a language Legolas had not yet learned to understand. Others had hints of sneers upon their fair faces as they took in the state of the young elf. Next to them in their elegant robes and with silky tresses in brown, gold and the rare black, Tauriel looked poor and wild, a lesser creature belonging beneath their feet. Tauriel kept her head held high and her eyes set ahead, but she looked so small and vulnerable compared to the others. She slouched a bit as if to retreat into herself and it made Legolas want to hold her and comfort her. It was not right that someone with such obvious spirit should be oppressed by some haughty looks of members of the court. If anyone noticed that his eyes became chillier, glaring daggers at them and hovering protectively around the mysterious newcomer, they did not show it. They just nodded politely and continued on their way.

As soon as the party of elves had disappeared around a corner, Tauriel relaxed and her steps got back some of their previous confidence. When they turned right and entered a long corridor with high windows looking out over a slowly darkening forest and big doors with patterns of old carved into them, handles of brass and gold, Tauriel spoke up:

"Who is Merenwen?"

"Lady Merenwen", Legolas corrected, ignoring the annoyed look she sent him. "The Court Healer. She will look after you."

Tauriel seemed to want to protest, but said instead, with all the bright hope of a child:

"If she's a healer, than maybe she could heal the forest."

Legolas frowned and glanced down at her.

"What do you mean?"

"It's starting to become ill." Tauriel's expression grew serious and she bit her lower lip. She looked up at him from beneath dark lashes and said in almost a whisper: "Something dark is growing further down south."

"How do you know this?" asked Legolas alarmed. "Why do you tell me and not my father?"

"He already knows, but I don't think he will do much about it."

She sounded cold as she said so, in a voice only voicing a fact. Legolas didn't contradict her, because he knew that his father was less concerned on what was going on in the forest beyond the borders of their kingdom.

"Well, you do not need to worry", Legolas said in the most cheerful tone he could muster. "I will protect you against the dark. I promise", he vowed and found that he meant it with all his heart.

Tauriel frowned and glared at him. Her green eyes were narrow and a fierce scowl contorted her face into an expression that looked frightening on her young and dirty face.

"I don't need protection. I can take care of myself."

Legolas regarded her with a thoughtful look in his eyes. He didn't doubt her courage or her fiery spirit, but she was young and what had she truly seen of the world?

'Probably more than you', said a snide voice in the back of his mind, but he pushed it away, not wanting to believe it. Tauriel was determined, sure of herself. She had the mind of a child, because she was one, and lacked the wisdom of age. Legolas knew that it was something she would have to learn if she wanted to survive, but it would not come without a cost. He studied her in silence. She did not falter with her gaze. Legolas smiled half a smile at her and knocked on the door.

"Perhaps", he said in a speculating voice, though he knew deep down that he would protect her from whatever harm might come to her, no matter if it was in the form of darkness or glaring court members.

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><p><strong>So, that was the first chapter! Any thoughts? Constructive criticism's welcomed if you think it's needed! <strong>

***note of this chapter; though not always portrayed so, I think that Legolas is older than Tauriel by some hundred years or so (give and take a few), which is how I've portrayed him in this* **

**Cannot guarantee when the next update will take place, but probably sometime next week.  
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**Thanks for reading! :) **


	2. Hurt

**Chapter 2, everyone! **

**Thanks to all readers, followers, favourites and reviewers! A Bombur-sized 'thank you' to all you reviewers without accounts - I really appreciate all your kind words and I'm really glad you like the story (that goes to everyone; readers, followers, favourites, reviewers alike)! :)  
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**I do not own any characters or places; J.R.R Tolkien or Peter Jackson and Co do. **

_Elvish's in italics. I am in no way an expert, so there will surely be some grammarmistakes, but I've tried. Most of it will be lines from the movie 'Desolation of Smaug' (which I don't own, obviously) and it will be a mixture of what I've heard and what I've translated. Hope it will do! _

**Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2 <strong>

"You fought well today", Legolas praised her as the two of them walked at the front of the line with the captured dwarves. "As always."

Tauriel smiled at him, a pleased look upon her face. Her eyes were still gleaming from the rush of the fight against the spiders.

"So did you", she returned the compliment. She glanced at the dwarves behind them, who were being pushed forwards, grunting and making sounds of most displeasure, cursing and trying to break free. "The dwarves looked simply astonished, very impressed."

She looked at him with an innocent expression, her full lips curled into a teasing smile. Legolas own lips twitched; otherwise he kept his face neutral. It would not do much good of showing emotions around her, because he was afraid he might slip and to reveal something that would change the easy friendship they had.

"And should they not be impressed?" he wondered and could not completely keep the arrogance from mixing with the light banter. "They are only dwarves; thieves and liars the lot of them."

He could sense that he had gotten too far, because Tauriel pursed her lips together and her green eyes turned hard. Legolas supposed it was her maternal instinct kicking in; the dwarves were rather short after all and they had been captured easily. Tauriel had always had a soft spot in her heart for weak things and for imperfect things that in her eyes were perfection. As the dwarves had lost without putting up much of a fight, Legolas guessed that might have stirred Tauriel's feelings for them. They were weak.

He did not voice his thoughts out loud. He knew Tauriel would get annoyed, perhaps even angry and he had never really been able to bear it when she was. Her companionship and her presence were valued immensely. Legolas had a difficult time to imagine what he would do without her. She had been a part of him for so long that he barely remembered the time before her.

"You should not underestimate them", said Tauriel in a low voice as they led their prisoners deeper down the palace. "It is a fool's mistake to underestimate your opponents. You taught me that, remember?"

Of course he remembered, but he only jerked his head in an irritated gesture. The heavy breaths of the dwarves, their stench and their curses annoyed him to no end. And the elven blade he had taken from their leader only further strengthened his belief that dwarves – at least these dwarves – were thieves.

Legolas looked back at their prisoners. Many of them were still struggling, but their leader had stopped. His expression was thunderous and in his eyes there was a fire that Legolas had never seen the like of before. It was almost like a flame of madness.

The dwarf leader found that he was looking and scowled, his rough features becoming even rougher. Legolas sneered and turned away, but he could still feel the eyes of the dwarf burning holes into his back. It made him feel uncomfortable. He noticed that Tauriel glanced at him, her expression still irritated, but with a hint of a softness to it. Legolas repressed a sigh and stopped. Everyone else did the same, though the dwarves fought to run away which was useless. Even if they by some miracle would have managed to break free from the elves' rank, they would not have gotten far and would have wandered around in the Halls of the Woodland King utterly lost.

"_Llie tâd_", he said and addressed the two guards who stood guarding the dwarf leader. "_Mab ho ni_ _mahalma_ _sambë. Amin adar_ _irma_ _iest_ _an_ _ped di_ _ho. __Amin bertha_ _ped ho sinta_ _ne ron naa hí._"

The two guards bowed and clasped the dwarf's upper arms with an iron grip. He tried to shake them off, but not even stone could break the grip of trees of old. They started to lead him away, which had his company protest loudly. As the guards tried to restore some sort of calm, Tauriel muttered lowly:

"When does your father not know what is happening in his kingdom?"

Legolas gave her a warning look, but she ignored him and calmly put a hand on an old, white-bearded dwarf's arm, though he looked more grim than wanting to beat them into pulps. Tauriel and his father's relationship had always been unpredictable. One moment there was affection there – warm voices, wry smiles and respect – next there was as if ice and fire were clashing. Legolas wondered what it might have been this time that made Tauriel feel annoyance against the King.

The dwarves still were proving to be troublesome and it irked Legolas, who had had his day planned in a different way than having to be dealing with loud, rugged and rude dwarves.

"Enough!" he said in a harsh voice that echoed around the corridors.

Surprisingly, the noise lessened amongst the dwarves, though most of them were giving him disgruntled looks, in some cases even loathing ones. He did not move a muscle and looked down at them. Though he did not scrunch his nose, he wanted to. They were a sore sight to behold.

With a final nod of command, the guards lead away the dark-haired dwarf who accepted it with a regal air to him. They continued up the corridor while the rest of them walked down some narrow steps that overlooked the great halls where festivities always were held. Dozens of elves were moving down there, preparing for Mereth-en-Gillith that would take place later that evening. Tables of shiny oak were brought out, along with exquisite candelabras in gold and cups of crystals that glittered even in the rather dim light. Legolas could feel their eyes upon them as they led the dwarves down the stairs to eventually reach the dungeons. Legolas could ignore them, wasn't even bothered by their looks, but Tauriel turned rigid in her stance and she turned her fierce eyes to glare at the elves below. She had never gotten over the fact of having been stared at over the years, looking down on as if she did not quite belong at court. Now, there were few that could withstand her gaze as her position as Captain of the Guards demanded respect. They averted their eyes and continued with the preparations.

Legolas shot her a sideways look.

"Why so irritated?" he asked her in hushed tones, not wanting the rest of the guards to hear them, though he believed they would anyway. "We have done our duty. Let them stare."

"These dwarves have been through enough", said Tauriel quietly and her face was set in a determined expression with a dark gleam to her eyes. "They do not deserve to be stared at like some travelling company of fools. As long as I have responsibility for them, it won't happen."

"You speak as if you know them", said Legolas and watched her with his heart nearly stilling in his chest and suspicion and dread in his eyes. "As if you know of their purpose."

Tauriel did not falter in her walk as they entered the lower halls, the last inhabitant part of the castle before the dungeons. Well, Legolas supposed that would change now. Tauriel glanced at him, seemed to think of how to answer. He despised when she looked at him like that, as if she didn't know if he could handle it. She had had that habit for a very long time. The blond prince knew he had her respect when it came to battle and politics amongst their kind, but Tauriel possessed that aura of a knowledge of something bigger, something rare to achieve.

"I recognized their leader", she told him and Legolas did not like the tone of her voice as she said so.

"From where?" he asked and the words came out harsher than he intended.

Tauriel looked at him and there was steel in her eyes and a bitter curl to her lips.

"From the prime days of Erebor."

Legolas eyes widened.

"You do not mean to say…?"

"He is the heir to the throne under the Mountain", finished Tauriel in a clipped tone. "I don't doubt that your father knows." She added darkly: "And I do not doubt that he will do nothing to help this time either."

That did freeze Legolas's heart and it was not without panic he tried to catch Tauriel's attention again, but she paid him no mind. They had arrived at the dungeons, the cells empty below the cliffs tainted with golden light from the waterfalls falling from above. Tauriel was in charge now – it was her duty as Captain – and Legolas reluctantly stepped aside and let the guards and dwarves pass to take the steep way down. They did not struggle any longer, perhaps afraid of falling down should they do so. The guards and their Captain conversed in their own language and the dwarves were not handled all too gently as they were searched through one more time just to be safe. Legolas's eyes flickered between the company of dwarves and Tauriel as he slowly tried to catch up with the party. While he was in no hurry, he remembered something that had happened long ago in the years of Men and dwarves, but it could have been yesterday for Legolas and his kin.

The day when the dragon came down from the north.

Their scouts had seen it coming and raised the alarm. The Elvenking had not been surprised. He had known, that with King Thrór's lust for gold becoming too grand, it would only be a matter of time before his greed would attract other greedy beings. Thranduil had ordered all borders closed and all elves inside as the first winds came like hurricanes, bending even some of the strongest trees in Greenwood. Not long after that, smoke travelled with the winds and the dragon's roar could be heard miles away.

Legolas had stood next to his father the whole time as the King's eyes flickered around, nervously and not like they used to be. Later Legolas discovered that his father had been scared. No one dared leave the safe stronghold until the winds had calmed down. All they could see then, when they ascended to the watchtower, was smoke rising in the distance, a black streak climbing towards the sky. The air reeked of ash.

The King had made the decision not to aid the dwarves as the risk of the dragon's ire was a too great of a chance that he was not willing to take. Yet that had not stopped Tauriel from trying to change his mind. She had still been young then and brash, hot-headed. Legolas did not exactly knew whatever had played out between her and his father, but it had ended with Tauriel being locked up in the dungeons while Thranduil and his warriors marched towards Erebor and Dale to see what was left of it.

Legolas had never forgotten the sight of Tauriel behind the bars, pacing furiously back and forth in the small area, shaking in frustration. Nor had he forgotten his father's pale, cold face as he gave the order while his eyes were burning with the same intensity as the dragon's fire.

And now, years after, he watched as Tauriel locked one of the dwarf's into the same cell she had occupied all those years ago. She did it without hesitation, but Legolas could sense that there was something that troubled her. He wanted to ask her what it was, wanted to comfort her and share her worries should it be needed. Yet as she approached him, he saw the young, black-haired dwarf whom she had shut inside a cell, follow her with dark eyes. A small, incredulous smile graced the dwarf's face and Legolas felt something stir in the pit of his stomach, a foreboding feeling.

"_Mankoi_ _car_ _i_ _nogoth_ _tiro_ _na_ _lle_, Tauriel?" he addressed her darkly.

"_Polya_ _quena_?" she replied defensively.

He was relieved at her answer and the tone she used; it was familiar ground, an occurrence whenever Tauriel thought Legolas behaved ridiculously. Though Legolas believed that both of them knew why the young dwarf was staring at her. While Tauriel might not possess the grace and beauty of the long lost Lúthien, she still was fair to any mortal eye. Legolas doubted he was the only one to think so. Tauriel then continued, a small, teasing smile upon her face:

"_Ro_ _naa_ _far_ _raud_ _an_ _nogoth_."

Legolas frowned, not founding it amusing. Tauriel blinked and straightened up wearing a perfect innocent expression.

"_Uuma_ _lle_ _ind_?"

"_Orchal_ _a_ _huin_", said Legolas bitterly as she walked away. "_Nan û_ _pen_ _vanima_!" he called after her, ignoring the other guards who – despite their training – could not hide their questioning looks.

Legolas felt extremely annoyed by it all; the spiders, the dwarves, Tauriel's careless yet grave attitude and the young, black-haired dwarf especially. He cared deeply for her, but he never knew where he had her. Six hundred years was long to Men, but it was far too short for Legolas to understand Tauriel.

It hurt.

Tauriel did not respond, nor did she stop. He could see her shake her head, the dim light making tones of bronze appear in her hair. Little did he know that it was the last time he had seen the Tauriel he loved. Now, something had started to change and lightening that fire deep inside her soul, a fire Legolas had always known was there but had never truly managed to understand.

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><p><em>Llie tâd. Mab ho ni mahalma sambë. Amin adar irma iest an ped di ho. Amin bertha ped ho sinta ne ron naa hí - <em>You two. Take him to the throne room. My father would want to speak with him. I dare say he know(s) that they are here.

_Mankoi car i nogoth tiro na lle? - _Why do(es) the dwarf stare(_look_) at you?

_Polya quena? - _Who can say?

_Ro naa far raud an nogoth. Uuma lle ind? - _He is quite tall for a dwarf. Don't you think(_mind_)?

_Orchal **'**a huin_**'**_ (_couldn't find a good translation, took it directly from how I heard it in the film_) nan û pen vanima - _Tall(er) than some, but no less ugly

**So, that was that! Any thoughts? **

**I'm planning on writing a companion fic to this, featuring Tauriel's p.o.v and then it will tell in more detail of what happened the day Smaug came. Though it's not started yet, so I cannot promise when it will be published, but it will! **

**Still; one more chapter to go and it should be up soon! **

**Thanks for reading! :) **


	3. Nothing

**Chapter 3, the last chapter, everyone! **

**Soon, I'll be seeing _The Battle of the Five Armies _and I wanted to have the last chapter of this story out of my system before that. I believe I will be quite the emotional wreck after the movie, so I thought I'd update when I'm still of a focused mind. Hope you will like this last chapter! :) **

***Thank you-notes at the bottom* **

**I do not own any characters or places; J.R.R Tolkien or Peter Jackson and Co do. **

**Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3 <strong>

"That is a dwarven stone", Legolas said as he approached her and saw the black stone in her hand.

He regretted the words as soon as he had spoken them. Tauriel glanced at him and then back at the stone. Her eyes were tired. She carefully ran her thumb over the runes written on it, runes that neither of them could read.

"It is true", she confirmed. "Yes."

She sounded as tired as she looked and her eyes were blank, dull and lacked their usual sparkle. Legolas wanted to reach out to her, to hold her, but the stone in her hand and the way she so gently held on to it stopped him. Instead he braced himself and said coldly:

"You will be leaving."

It was not a question. He knew she would. He could see it, because he knew her, knew this part of her; the honest and kind part of her, the resolute part that when once made up its mind would never be persuaded otherwise. Legolas read it in her face, in the depths of her eyes, eyes that had seen lives been born and lost. His heart felt tight in his chest as if he had taken a mortal wound to it.

Tauriel sighed, but did not deny it. Instead she nodded.

"Yes", she spoke softly. "Yes, I will. I made a promise to return it should I live and he not."

It angered Legolas and he clenched his hands into fists. His blue eyes expressed the pain he kept away from his voice, all the anguish and betrayal.

"I made a promise as well", he reminded her harshly. "I promised that I would protect you. And now you'll be leaving…."

He trailed off, finding a lump in his throat preventing him from continuing. Tauriel looked at him and her expression was like an open book. There was pain there, sorrow and sadness. Anger as well and a fear and finality that scared him. She reached out to him and Legolas knew he should withdraw, but when her slender hand connected with his pale and bruised cheek, he was unable to. He leaned into her touch and closed his eyes, did not dare to look at her and he did not want to see the destruction and broken landscape around them. Hot tears burned behind his eyelids but he did not let them fall and he never would.

"You have protected me, my friend", whispered Tauriel and poured her heart out in that sentence. She smiled sadly. "More times than I dare count. I need to do this and I need to do it alone."

"What can I do to make you stay, to see sense?" Legolas mumbled and reluctantly opened his eyes as she drew back her hand.

Tauriel let out a shaky breath. He noticed that her hand was clenched around the black, dwarven stone. It felt as if it was that hand that held his heart in an iron-grip.

"Oh, Legolas", sighed Tauriel in the same voice she had used hundreds of times before when she thought him not to understand her. It had never sounded as much as a prayer before. "Now is perhaps the only time that I have seen sense. I have to go and fulfill my promise. I owe him that."

The words cut him like the sharpest of swords. Legolas couldn't help but grimace. He despised the dead dwarf prince for taking Tauriel away from him. Even in death he bewitched her with tales of lands far away and moons of burning fire. After the battle, standing in the wake of smoke, ash and shadows, the elven prince could not find anything attractive about fire any longer. Legolas could have forgiven the dwarf for slithering his way into Tauriel's heart – he could have learned to live with it – but he would never forgive the dwarf for ripping her away, for making her leave him alone in the rising darkness without guidance, companionship and love.

"And me?" he spat, because he was furious, hurt beyond what any wound could cause. "Do you not owe me as well and my father? You have a responsibility to the Realm."

"Your father released me from my duty when he cut my bow in half", said Tauriel hotly, but her lower lip trembled. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them, he thought he had never seen anything so green before. Her voice was gentle, but firm: "And now, I will release you from your promise. You cannot protect me anymore."

He wanted to fall to his knees. Everything that he had kept inside for years threatened to spill out like the blood gracing the desolation below the Mountain. The rush of the battle had worn off. He had returned to a more broken and battered version of himself; worn and tired. His father had stared and Legolas had expected a lecture – how disobedience was bad, trust was the key to any working relationship and how foolish he had been – but Thranduil had just stared and gently pressed their foreheads together, mumbling about how glad he was to see him alive but that if he ever disobeyed him again, he would not be forgiving.

With that memory in mind, he took one step closer to Tauriel. He knew that his father would be less forgiving with her, because she had a different love from the King and that love would make her punishment harsh.

"If you go now, you will never be able to return. The gates will be shut for you forever."

He tried to make her see sense, tried to make her understand what she would loose and all because of a promise to a dwarf that had changed everything. Tauriel's face hardened and her eyes gained some of their spark again, burning lowly like embers, gold within the green.

"I rather am shut out than stuck inside."

Oh, how cold her words were. They twisted his heart. Legolas bowed his head, staring at the ground. It was barren and nothing would probably ever grow there again. A sign of a broken past and a dark time to come. His head felt light as if he had been affected by the sweet summer wine his father was so fond of. Always so stubborn and free spirited, Tauriel was. It had stopped to amaze him, but never to surprise him.

He took a deep breath, just as one might do before diving into cold water, and closed his eyes.

"Don't go, Tauriel. Please."

The words were a whisper that was carried away with the chilly wind. Legolas blinked, looking at her with a pleading expression, wearing no mask of indifference, but letting everything he felt and had ever felt for her show.

Tauriel looked distressed. Her eyes were dark with emotion. She wanted him to understand, Legolas could tell, but he feared he never would. They were so different, both to mind, spirit and heart. He would never truly have her fire and she would never have his calm. She would never possess his sense of honor while he would never feel the way her heart did.

Legolas realized that she would not grant him his wish. Something else was tugging at her heart and restless soul. Perhaps it had been decided ages ago by those with a higher power that the two of them should wander separate paths. With that in mind, he came to the conclusion that he could do no more. His duty lied with the Realm and his father. It was common ground to him, the role he had been born into. He would not stop Tauriel from doing what she felt needed to do, but he wouldn't follow her. Not this time.

"Fine", he sighed, frowning and his eyes cold. "Go. Fulfill your promise to the dwarf and then I hope your soul will have peace."

Tauriel didn't look surprise, but something flashed in the depths of her eyes. Too late Legolas realized that it was hurt of the deepest kind, because he was filled with it himself. Tauriel sank down on one knee, the formal gesture that was expected when receiving the blessing of someone with a higher rank. Legolas had always despised that custom.

"My friend, my prince, my protector. Mayhap we will meet again."

Tauriel looked hopeful, a sad smile playing on her lips, lips he had sometimes dreamt of kissing. His heart ached at seeing her now, his chest so full with emotions he thought he might be torn apart. He averted his eyes and stared out over the battlefield and the camp that lied beyond, the ruins of Dale.

"I won't wait for you." His voice was steel, but shook ever so slightly. "I can't…."

"I know."

Her voice was soft and understanding. He did not doubt that should he look at her, she would wear a calm expression; the corners of her mouth would be turned slightly upwards. It was something he had come to know about her, one of many things he had come to love her for. He thought he would always love her, that little elleth who had wormed her way into his heart so many years ago. Nothing would ever change that, but it hurt to feel for her.

There was nothing more to say.

Legolas had given her his blessing – a blessing he knew he was alone to give her – and he wished she would not speak. He could not bear to hear her voice now. It would shatter something inside him if she would say anything more.

He kept his eyes fixed far away, waiting for her to go where he would not follow her. He felt cold and it was not only because of the winds of winter.

When he heard her moving, he clenched his hands and his face turned grim. Yet Legolas refused to look at her. It hurt more than anything in his life had done and he could now understand how his kin could die of a broken heart. They were such fragile little things.

Legolas tensed when he felt Tauriel move closer to him. He could smell the scent of trees and wild berries that always hung around her like a delightful perfume. Trying his hardest to pretend that she was not there proved to be difficult as one soft, cold hand carefully gripped his chin and guided his face so that he had to look at her. Legolas swallowed as he stared into her eyes.

Tauriel let go of his chin and her hand fell to her side. She took a deep breath and to Legolas horror, she unclasped the necklace she wore around her neck. It was a thin chain with silver roots keeping a small, white stone in place. It glittered like the stars she loved so much.

One hand held the dwarven stone while the other held the elven-made necklace. The tension was thick as she laid her necklace in Legolas's hand. He had not been aware of that he had held it out.

"This is my promise to you", said Tauriel lowly, her fair face grave and her eyes shining determinedly. "You and I will meet again."

Refusing such a gift – such a promise – would have meant that all their bonds should have been broken and Legolas was perhaps selfish as he let his hand close around the necklace. He remembered his father gifting it to her many years ago when she became Captain. But when he saw Tauriel's smile, the one where one could glimpse white teeth, he knew he had done the right thing. Her eyes were shiny as she then bowed and turned away from him. He had seen his pale reflection in her eyes.

Legolas watched her go. Her steps did not falter, nor once did she turn to look back at him. One of her hands clutched the black stone given to her by a dwarf prince while the other was prepared to draw her knife should anyone try to stop her from leaving. The weapon was still covered in blood. Her hair shone like gold, a red flame, as the sun was slowly setting and drenching the whole camp in golden light. Long he watched her until she was so far away that he could not see her anymore. Then he closed his eyes and his heart, holding her necklace tight in his hand and shoving away all his memories of Tauriel because he knew it would be painful to live otherwise.

Thus, he felt nothing more.

* * *

><p><strong>So, that was the end of this little tale! What did you think? <strong>

**I have started to write the companion fic to this, which will be Tauriel's p.o.v on a couple of events. It will be three chapters, just like this, though I cannot say when I will have it up, but I recommend to look out for it if you want to read more of my work! **

**I would like to thank all of you that have given this story a chance by reading, those of you that have decided to follow it and those of you who have deemed it good enough to favourite. I really appreciate it all as it means that there are people enjoying my writing! :) Also, a big 'thank you' to those of you who have taken time to leave a comment. They are wonderful to read and it means a lot to me to hear such supportive words of my work :) **

_Diola lle, i mellyn!_

**_/Aqua4444 _**


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